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Description
This resource provides educators with a tool to help students become more informed on marine debris and encourage environmental stewardship. The lesson plans aim to create advocates for marine environments with the students it reaches. The lesson plans can be completed independently or in sequence in a middle years classroom.
- Building a Watershed: Students build a model showing how water flows through a system and evaluate different management practices to see how they might reduce the amount of marine debris that enters the marine environment.
- Designing an Experiment: Students will choose one research question, write a hypothesis and design an experiment while assessing one obstacle to their research to address the problem of marine debris.
- Clean Up Clues: Students will work with marine debris clean up data from the Ocean Conservancy's Ocean Trash Index to compare three geographical regions and create a graph for totals in each category. They will also write a paragraph to explain their graphs, make inferences and share it with their classmates.
General Assessment
What skills does this resource explicitly teach?
The focus of this resource is on the development of awareness and the empowerment of the students to make a difference rather than skill acquisition.
Strengths
- The activities are hands-on and engaging.
- There is a good quantity of background information for the teacher.
- The resource is easy to use.
- The plastics problem is a current global issue.
Weaknesses
- There is a lack of assessment tools and suggestions for struggling learners.
- In Lesson #5, the students only complete the experiment they design as an extension activity.
- The data from the Ocean Conservancy's Ocean Trash Index is based on American data.
Recommendation of how and where to use it
An Educator's Guide to Marine Debris is a great resource to empower students to take action in reducing the consumption of single use plastics by developing awareness. It is a great stand alone resource for the Science classroom.
Relevant Curriculum Units
The following tool will allow you to explore the relevant curriculum matches for this resource. To start, select a province listed below.
- Step 1Select a province
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- Step 2Select a grade level
- Grade 6
- Step 3Select a subject
- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Linear relations can be identified and represented using expressions with variables and line graphs and can be used to form generalizations
- Grade 7
- Step 3Select a subject
- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Data from circle graphs can be used to illustrate proportion and to compare and interpret.
- Manitoba
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland & Labrador
- Northwest Territories
- Nova Scotia
- Nunavut
- Ontario
- Step 2Select a grade level
- Grade 6
- Step 3Select a subject
- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Data
- Grade 7
- Step 3Select a subject
- Science & Technology
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Interactions in the Environment
- Grade 8
- Step 3Select a subject
- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Data
- Science & Technology
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Water Systems
- Prince Edward Island
- Quebec
- Step 2Select a grade level
- Grade 6
- Step 3Select a subject
- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Statistics and Probability
- Science & Technology
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Living Things
- Grade 7
- Step 3Select a subject
- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Statistics and probability
- Science & Technology
- Step 4Relevant matches
- The Living World
- Grade 8
- Step 3Select a subject
- Science & Technology
- Step 4Relevant matches
- The Living World
- Saskatchewan
- Yukon Territory
- Step 2Select a grade level
- Grade 6
- Step 3Select a subject
- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Linear relations can be identified and represented using expressions with variables and line graphs and can be used to form generalizations
- Grade 7
- Step 3Select a subject
- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Data from circle graphs can be used to illustrate proportion and to compare and interpret.
Themes Addressed
-
Waste Management (2)
- Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
- Source Reduction
-
Water (2)
- Marine Environments
- Water Quality
Sustainability Education Principles
| Principle | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Consideration of Alternative Perspectives | Good | |
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
| ||
| Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions | Good | The activities are well balanced and allow the students to explore the issue and have discussions with their classmates with regards to difficulties and realities of the plastics problem. |
| Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions: Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.
| ||
| Respects Complexity | Very Good | The activities are designed in such a way that the students are encouraged to see the big picture of how plastics make their way to the oceans and what can be done to mitigate the problem. |
| Respects Complexity: The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected. | ||
| Acting on Learning | Good | Each lesson ends with a discussion of how to improve the current situation with regards to marine debris by making lifestyle changes and taking the Plastics Pledge to reduce the consumption of plastics. |
| Acting on Learning: Learning moves from understanding issues to working towards positive change — in personal lifestyle, in school, in the community, or for the planet
| ||
| Values Education | Very Good | This occurs as the students get ample opportunity to discuss and reflect with their peers regarding the issue. |
| Values Education: Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values. | ||
| Empathy & Respect for Humans | Poor/Not considered | This is not a focus of this resource. |
| Empathy & Respect for Humans: Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.). | ||
| Personal Affinity with Earth | Satisfactory | The activities are all classroom based. |
| Personal Affinity with Earth: Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.
| ||
| Locally-Focused Learning | Satisfactory | |
| Locally-Focused Learning: Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community.
| ||
| Past, Present & Future | Good | |
| Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future. | ||
Pedagogical Approaches
| Principle | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Open-Ended Instruction | Very Good | |
| Open-Ended Instruction
: Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer. | ||
| Integrated Learning | Very Good | This resource does a very good job of adding Numeracy within its lessons as well as writing. |
| Integrated Learning: Learning brings together content and skills from more than one subject area
| ||
| Inquiry Learning | Good | |
| Inquiry Learning: Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.
| ||
| Differentiated Instruction | Good | This resource has hands-on activities that would appeal to a variety of learning styles. Unfortunately, there are no strategies for struggling learners. |
| Differentiated Instruction: Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.
| ||
| Experiential Learning | Satisfactory | |
| Experiential Learning: Authentic learning experiences are provided
| ||
| Cooperative Learning | Satisfactory | |
| Cooperative Learning: Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.
| ||
| Assessment & Evaluation | Satisfactory | Each lesson ends with a section entitled "Evaluate/Wrap Up" but there are no tools or suggestions for evaluation. The activity is more of a closing activity to the lesson. |
| Assessment & Evaluation: Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc. | ||
| Peer Teaching | Satisfactory | |
| Peer Teaching: Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.
| ||
| Case Studies | Poor/Not considered | This is not the focus of this resource. |
| Case Studies: Relevant case studies are included. Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events from real situations that students use to explore concepts in an authentic context. | ||
| Locus of Control | Good | The resource does allow for some student choice. |
| Locus of Control: Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue. | ||
